The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Wellington Provincial District]

Mr. James William Thomson

Mr. James William Thomson, M.A., held office in the Grey Government as a Minister of Lands and a member of the Executive Council for about three months in 1879. He was born in Scotland, and educated at Edinburgh University where he graduated M.A. Coming to New Zealand in 1859 he settled in Clutha, where in 1864 he was returned to the Provincial Council of Otago in which he held a seat till the abolition of that form of government in 1876. Mr. Thomson was a strong opponent of and presided over a demonstration held to protest against the extinction of the Councils. About this time he was returned to the House for the Clutha Electorate and sat for that constituency till 1887 when he resigned. Three years after this Mr. Thomson was elected for Bruce by a two-to-one majority. In 1881 as the mover of the resolution which caused the defeat of the first Stout-Vogel Government he was entrusted with the task of forming a new ministry, in which, however, he did not succeed. At the general election of 1893 Mr. Thomson did not offer himself for re-election.